Busch Gardens to be sold

The sale of the Busch Entertainment unit, which owns the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens parks, has long been expected as part of AB-InBev’s plans to pay for its USD 52 billion acquisition of Anheuser-Busch last year.

According to Anheuser-Busch’s regulatory filings last year, before it was acquired, the company said its theme parks business was the second largest in the United States, running ten parks stretching from Florida to Pennsylvania.

If a deal is struck, it would give Blackstone yet another set of attractions for its own growing theme parks business. The firm owns the Merlin Entertainments Group, a British company that runs more than 50 properties like the Madame Tussauds wax-museum franchise, the Legoland parks and the London Eye Ferris wheel. Blackstone also co-owns the Universal Studios Orlando theme park with NBC Universal, it was reported. As of 30 June 2009, Blackstone’s corporate private-equity operation had USD 25.2 billion of total fee-earning assets under management, according to the company’s website.